The Grunts In Trouble
Page 10
And stay they all did, even the Grunts. But matters didn’t end there. Of course they didn’t. Lord Bigg wasn’t under lock and key for ever, though he did end up in jail for a long time. Then there was the fact that wherever the Grunts went, trouble was never far behind and when they didn’t go anywhere, trouble soon found them anyway.
Like the first time they ran out of elephant-feed and decided to take the caravan to Hunnybun’s Bun Factory to stock up on – you guessed it – some currant buns (stale ones if they were cheaper). It took them past a very pretty thatched cottage with a messed-up front garden. Although Mr Grunt wasn’t sure he recognised it, he found his bottom tingling at the memory of being peppered with peppercorns …
… and before he could say, “Silly old bat!”, Elsie Spawn had her blunderbuss pointing out of the window, ready to fire.
What she hadn’t bargained for was a smart elephant, such as Fingers. Before she’d even had the satisfaction of pulling the trigger, a large trunk had wrapped itself around the weapon’s trumpet-like muzzle and had pulled it from her grasp.
“Monster!” she bellowed, peering over the windowsill. “Brute! Ogre!” Because, in all the good ways, Sunny was nothing like Mr and Mrs Grunt, he made sure that Fingers returned the weapon to the elderly lady – once he’d tipped out the gunpowder and drawing pins – but, the truth be told, it never worked again. Fingers’ elephantine grip had left the muzzle all crudnuckled (which isn’t a real word, but one that best describes the state it was in).
The delay meant that they didn’t reach the Hunnybun’s factory until after closing time.
“It’s all your fault!” Mrs Grunt shouted from the bedroom window.
“Yours!” Mr Grunt shouted back from the factory’s sloping forecourt. He wanted to kick something, and chose a piece of wood. It was a large cheese-shaped wedge under the back wheel of a delivery van. He kicked it clear. The van began rolling slowly backwards towards him.
“Look out, mister!” Mrs Grunt shouted from the caravan, before she could stop herself.
“What?” shouted Mr Grunt. “How do you expect me to hear you when you MUMBLE, wife?”
“Nothing!” Mrs Grunt replied, with a flash of green and yellow teeth.
Mr Grunt grunted, and only jumped clear thanks to Sunny’s last-minute warning cry of, “Dad!”
The van rumbled past him and hit a bollard, causing its back doors to burst open. Sunny read the words on the nearest one: SUPPLIERS OF FRESH HONEY TO HUNNYBUN’S.
What Mr Grunt said next was drowned out by a sudden loud buzzing noise, but Sunny could guess what it was. It was a single word, shouted loud and long. It was: “Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!”
Copyright
THE GRUNTS IN TROUBLE
First published in the UK in 2012 by Nosy Crow Ltd
The Crow’s Nest, 10a Lant Street
London SE1 1QR, UK
This ebook edition first published in 2012
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and / or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text © Philip Ardagh, 2012
Cover and inside illustrations © Axel Scheffler, 2012
The right of Philip Ardagh and Axel Scheffler to be identified as author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author's imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblence to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978 0 85763 070 4
www.nosycrow.com
Read more of the Grunts’
ridiculous antics in:
THE GRUNTS
ALL AT SEA
Search for
on the iTunes App Store for the free Grunts game for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, The Grunts: Beard of Bees
Check out the buzz at
www.meetthegrunts.com